UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — There’s little doubt that UConn and UCLA will be the top two seeds in the women’s NCAA Tournament when the bracket is revealed Sunday.
They were 1-2 in both of the selection committees top 16 reveals over the last month with the Huskies No. 1 both times. Both have been dominant since the last reveal on March 1, winning their conference tournaments convincingly.
Still there’s an argument to be made that UCLA should be in the conversation for the top overall seed, especially after an eye-popping 51-point win over Iowa in the Big Ten championship game Sunday.
The Bruins picked up three first-place votes in the AP Top 25 poll Monday, ending UConn’s eight-week run as the unanimous No. 1 team.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma said he’s fine with whatever the committee decides.
“I wouldn’t be surprised and I would be OK with it,” he said. “I don’t really care one way or the other, you know, I don’t know, the last time we’ve been a number one seed, it’s been a couple of years. … If you said UCLA is the number one, number one, I would say, wow, they’re really damn good and I would have absolutely no problem with that. I mean, look what they did the last game they played.”
History is on UConn’s side though as 12 teams have entered the tournament unbeaten in the last 25 years and 10 of those have earned the No. 1 overall seed. The only exceptions, Princeton in 2015 and Notre Dame a year earlier. The Tigers had no claim to be the top overall seed despite having their best season ever.
The Irish were second overall in 2014 because UConn also was undefeated that season. The two teams met for the national championship and the Huskies won.
If the selection committee decides to buck that trend it won’t change which region UConn is in. UCLA will play in the Sacramento Regional and the Huskies would be in the Fort Worth Regional since geography is big factor in placing teams.
Where it potentially could make a difference would be that the overall No. 1 team would play it’s regional final on Sunday giving that team an extra days’ rest before the Final Four on April 3. There would still be a chance for the No. 2 team to still play Sunday as well.
UConn won last year’s NCAA championship as a No. 2-seed and played the Saturday-Monday schedule. The Huskies beat UCLA in the Final Four by 34 points — the largest margin in the national semifinals history. The Bruins were the top overall seed last season.
The committee uses 12 criteria to determine who belongs in the field and where teams should be seeded. One of those is the NET ranking system. The Huskies are No. 1 in the NET and the Bruins are second.
UConn played the hardest nonconference schedule in the country, but the Big East has had a down year. The Huskies have been dominant all season long and have been winning by an average of more than 38 points a game — the third best in NCAA history.
UCLA was unbeaten in the Big Ten, which is one of the top two conferences in the country. The Bruins were 18-1 against quad 1 opponents — elite teams. The lone loss the Bruins was to Texas in November on a neutral court.
“I think sometimes people put too much stock in what conference you play in, what your record was, who you played against and all this other stuff,” Auriemma said. “There’s some mid-majors out there, I don’t even know what conference they’re in, but I guarantee you don’t want them showing up in your gym in the second round.”
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